Asclepias
14 creative works found
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Common Milkweed, asclepias syriaca
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These 2 mating bugs are the Large Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus, they are true bugs. Beetles, moths, flies, and butterflies are not. Bugs have the usual complement of structures that they share with just about all other insects: six legs, three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and two antennae. True bugs (order Hemiptera) do not have mouths for biting and chewing food—they have a tubelike beak for sucking fluids. The milkweed bug in nature sucks nutrients from milkweed seeds. Milkweed bugs are one of a small group of insects that have the ability to tolerate the toxic compounds in the milkweed plant. They are therefore important in regulating populations of this plant. This type of milkweed shown here is the Butterfly Weed, asclepias fuberosa more will be said of it on another shot
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asclepias tuberose. The name Butterfly Weed comes from the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color and its copious production of nectar. Butterfly weed is also the larval food plant of the Queen butterfly. It is a species of milkweed native to eastern North America, and a perennial. It contains a cardiac glycoside that is toxic to a lot of insects. Butterflies that feed on the nectar and pollinates the plant. The toxin will pass from the caterpillar will contain some of this and keep it as a butterfly. Any bird eating one will become sick and learn not to eat them Butterfly Weed is also known as Pleurisy root. It is named for its use by native Americans and settlers to treat pleurisy, which is inflammation of the membranes that line the chest and cover the lungs. A very painful condition, pleurisy causes fluid accumulation in the chest. Because chemicals in pleurisy root may reduce the thickness of mucus and encourage coughing, it may have helped to relieve pleurisy and other respiratory conditions such as bronchitis. In addition, pleurisy root contains chemicals that may increase sweating, so it also may have helped to lower fever associated with infective diseases. Today, the medical uses of pleurisy root largely have been replaced by prescription and non-prescription drugs that are more effective. Pleurisy root is known to contain chemicals that act like female hormones in the body. It has been used in folk medicine both to start late menstrual periods and to cause abortions. If it is taken during pregnancy, a miscarriage is possible. Pregnant women should not take pleurisy root. Some Native American legends tell of the roots being used as a body wash for lifting and running strength. Also used as a drug in chant lotion, and as a ceremonial emetic. A ceremony is connected with the obtaining and distribution of this highly valued root. !
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July 9, 2008
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Milkweed seeds ready for the final journey.
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This Asclepias physocarpa seed pod is about the size of a tangerine, and is full of air, with the seeds pressed together against the stem-side of the pod and have feather-like tails to carry them away when they are released. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on this plant, and the caterpillars love to eat the leaves.
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This interesting wildflower is commonly known as a Pink Swamp Milkweed. The scientific species is asclepias incarnata L. In some areas it is also know as Rose Milkweed, Swamp Silkweed or White Indian Hemp. This very common plant can be found in all of the central and eastern areas of North America. Only the western US costal and desert States and western Canadian provinces are excluded. It grows best in very damp soil, usually near streams, ponds, lakes and (obviously) in swamps. The blooms and flowers begin to appear in late July or early August and they usually last until a “hard freeze” in the fall. It is a tall plant, and can grow as high as five feet. The flowering “head” averages about six inches across. The buds are fragrant and edible, as are the young leaves. It is considered to be a medicinal herb and has been used to treat various ailments. The roots are often eaten by muskrats, but the foliage is known to be particularly deadly to sheep. These tall flowering native American perennial “weeds” are wonderful butterfly attractors (as well as being extremely “popular” with many other small insects, spiders, bees and Monarch Butterfly caterpillars). This particular plant was as busy as Grand Central Station, with so many different creatures all visiting at the same time! There are two butterflies, two different types of bees, a small spider and several additional unidentified bugs (one caught in mid-flight) captured in this one photo! I shot this photo hand held with my old Canon EOS 650 35mm film camera, through a Canon EF 35-135mm USM zoom lens, no flash. The negative was scanned to digital (very poorly) by the film lab. I know that much of the sharpness was lost in the process, but I like the shot anyway, just because there is so much going on here! I am sorry if the lack of image quality is a turn-off to any viewers. (I’ll never use that photo lab again!)
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These fabulous tiny blossoms are a vital source of nectar for bees, bugs and most importantly, butterflies. They are a larval food source for Monarch Butterflies and their relatives. / The name refers to the milky substance extruded from their stem when broken and which contains alkaloids, latex, and several other complex compounds including cardenolides.* Carolus Linnaeus named the genus after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, because of the many folk-medicinal uses for the milkweed plants. Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca or incarnata, is a tall downy plant with clusters of pinkish-white to purple flowers. Flowers consist of 5 slightly curving and hood-shaped petals around a 5 hooded crown. Leaves are approximately 8 cm long, narrow lanceolate and normally dark green with a gray downy back. Plants are 30 to 120 cm in hight and can be found June through August across most of the eastern and central regions of the USA and Canada. Pollination occurs when the feet or mouthparts of flower visiting insects such as bees, wasps and butterflies, slip into one of the five slits in each flower formed by adjacent anthers. The bases of the pollinia then mechanically attach to the insect, pulling a pair of pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. See ref: Wikipedia Taken along National Forest Service Rout 44 in the NFS Chattahoochee Wildlife Conservation District in White County, GA USA Olympus E-3, Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 macro. Copyright © Richard G. Witham 2009 all rights reserved. / Contact the artist
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June thru August you will see these nice wildflowers in open dry fields where they thrive. A beautiful addition to wildflower gardens as well. Butterflies do love these orange-colored flowers seen in parts of Cades Cove. Photo from private Gourley Garden in TN Smokies. Canon Sure Shot S31S
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Common Milkweed / (Asclepias syriaca) West Deane Park, Etobicoke, Ontario / 6/29/08
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Common Milkweed / (Asclepias syriaca) West Dene Park, Etobicoke, Ontario / 7/1/09
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Picture taken in Sanford, FL and the Central Florida Zoo.
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The Common Milkweed is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1-2 m tall from a rhizome. The stem and all parts of the plants produce a white latex when broken. The plant’s latex contains large quantities of glycosides, making the leaves and seed pods toxic for sheep and other large mammals, and potentially humans (though large quantities of the foul-tasting parts would need to be eaten). Several insects live off the plant, including the Monarch Butterfly.
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A female monarch butterfly on a milkweed flower- taken in summer in the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s prairie garden. The milkweed forms the largest part of the butterfly’s diet, as well as serving as a place for the monarch butterflies to lay their eggs on.
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